Monarch Butterflies Face New Threat: Axing Trees to Avoid Fires

The number of monarch butterflies that winter in California is nearing a point where migration could end. Now tree-cutting to thwart wildfires could add even more stress for the imperiled species.

For the second year in a row, the number of monarchs counted in the state hovered under 30,000, down from nearly 200,000 two years prior and more than 1.2 million in 1997, according to data released Thursday by the Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation.

“These are animals that evolved to travel all of the West, and in the winter they come back to the same place,” said ...